I'm looking for any commentary (preferably modern) that takes Romans 8:4 as referring to imputed righteousness rather than spirit-wrought obedience.
Hi Brandon,
There's nothing modern about Charles Hodge. Hodge is my favorite commentator on Romans. I am drawn, again and again, to the scientific precision of Hodge, both in his thinking and the design of Romans.
From
Charles Hodge's commentary
on Romans
Hodge says that everything depends on the interpretation of Verse 3. If you take it as speaking of sanctification, then the same must be true of verse 4. And
vice versa.
Romans 8:4
Verse 4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, &c. This verse expresses the design of God in sending his Son, and in condemning sin in the flesh. He did thus condemn it, ἵνα, in order that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled. The meaning, therefore, of this passage is determined by the view taken of ver. 3. If that verse means, that God, by sending his Son, destroyed sin in us, then of course this verse must mean, ‘He destroyed sin, in order that we should fulfil the law;’ i.e. that we should be holy. But if ver. 3 is understood of the sacrificial death of Christ, and of the condemnation of sin in him as the substitute of sinners, then this verse must be understood of justification, and not of sanctification. He condemned sin, in order that the demands of the law might be satisfied. This is the view of the passage given even by the majority of the early Fathers, and by almost all evangelical interpreters, including the Reformers. “Qui intelligunt Spiritu Christi renovatos legem implere, commentum a sensu Pauli penitus alienum afferunt; neque enim eo usque proficiunt fideles, quamdia peregrinantur in mundo, ut justificatio legis in illis plena sit, vel integra. Ergo hoc ad veniam referre necesse est; quia, dum nobis accepta fertur Christi obedientia, legi satisfactum est, ut pro justis censeamur.” That this is the true meaning of the passage appears not only from the connection and the course of the argument, but also from the following considerations:
1. It is consistent with the strict and natural meaning of the words. The word δικαίωμα, here used, means, first, something righteous, and then, second, something declared to be righteous and obligatory, an ordinance or precept; and, third, a righteous decision, a just judgment, as when in Rom. 1:29, the heathen are said to know the δικαίωμα, the righteous judgment of God; and, fourth, the act of declaring righteous, justification. In this sense δικαίωμα is antithetical to κατάκριμα. The δικαίωμα τοῦ νόμου, therefore, may mean, the righteous requirement of the law, that which satisfies its demands. In strict accordance therefore with the sense of the words, we may explain the passage to mean, ‘that the demands of the law might be satisfied in us.’ That is, that we might be justified. Christ was condemned, that to us there might be no condemnation. He was made sin, that we might be made righteousness, 2 Cor. 5:21. Or, if we take δικαίωμα in the sense of (Rechtfertigungsurtheil) a declaration of righteousness, an act of justification, the same idea is expressed: ‘Sin was condemned in Christ, in order that the sentence of justification might be fulfilled, or carried into effect in us.’ This is the explanation which Eckermann, Köllner, Philippi, and other modern interpreters adopt.
2. The analogy of Scripture. To make this passage teach the doctrine of subjective justification, that we are freed from condemnation or delivered from the law by our inward sanctification, is to contradict the plain teaching of the Bible, and the whole drift and argument of this epistle.
3. The concluding clause of the verse, (who walk not after the flesh, &c.) demands the interpretation given above. In the other view of the passage, the latter clause is altogether unnecessary. Why should Paul say, that Christ died in order that they should be holy who are holy, i.e. those who walk not after the flesh? On the other hand, the second clause of the verse is specially pertinent, if the first treats of justification. The benefits of Christ’s death are experienced only by those who walk not after the flesh. The gospel is not antinomian. Those only are justified who are also sanctified. Holiness is the fruit and evidence of reconciliation with God. There is no condemnation to those who walk after the Spirit; and the righteousness of the law is fulfilled by those who walk after the Spirit. In both cases, the latter clause is designed to describe the class of persons who are entitled to appropriate to themselves the promise of justification in Christ. 4. Finally, as intimated in the above quotation from Calvin, it is not true that the righteousness of the law, in the sense of complete obedience, is fulfilled in believers. The interpretation which makes the apostle say, that we are delivered from the law by the work of Christ, in order that the complete obedience which the law demands might be rendered by us, supposes what all Scripture and experience contradicts. For an exposition of the last clause of the verse, see ver. 1.
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Romans 8:1–11
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DOCTRINE
1. As the former part of this chapter is an inference from the previous discussion, and presents a summary of the great truths already taught, we find here united the leading doctrines of the first portion of the epistle. For example, justification is by faith, ver. 1; believers are not under the law, ver. 2; the law is insufficient for our justification; God has accomplished that object by the sacrifice of his Son, vs. 3, 4; and this blessing is never disconnected with a holy life, ver. 4.
2. The final salvation of those who are really united to Christ, and who show the reality of their union by good works, is secure. This is the doctrine of the whole chapter. This section contains two of the apostle’s arguments in its support. 1. They are free from the law which condemned them to death, vs. 2–4. 2. They are partakers of that Spirit which is the author and earnest of eternal life, vs. 5–11.
3. Jesus Christ is truly divine. He is “God’s own Son,” i.e. partaker of his nature. The Holy Ghost is his Spirit, and he dwells in all believers, vs. 3, 11.
4. Jesus Christ is truly a man. He came in the likeness of men, ver. 3.
5. Christ was a sacrifice for sin, and his sufferings were penal, i.e. they were judicially inflicted in support of the law. ‘God punished sin in him,’ ver. 3.
6. The justification of believers involves a fulfilling of the law; its demands are not set aside, ver. 4.
7. Everything in the Bible is opposed to antinomianism. Paul teaches that justification and sanctification cannot be disjoined. No one is, or can be in the favour of God, who lives after the flesh, vs. 5–11.
8. The necessity of holiness arises out of the very nature of things. Sin is death, whereas holiness is life and peace. God has made the connection between sin and misery, holiness and happiness, necessary and immutable, ver. 6. The fact that holy men suffer, and that even the perfect Saviour was a man of sorrows, is not inconsistent with this doctrine. Such sufferings never proceed from holiness. On the contrary, the Divine Spirit was, and is a wellspring within of joy and peace, to all who are sanctified. In itself considered, therefore, moral purity is essentially connected with happiness, as cause and effect.
9. All unrenewed men, that is, all “who are in the flesh,” are at once the enemies of God, and the objects of his displeasure. Their habitual and characteristic state of mind, that state which every man has who is not “in the Spirit,” is enmity to God, and consequently is the object of his disapprobation, vs. 6, 8.
10. The Holy Ghost is the source of all good in man. Those who are destitute of his influences, are not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be; for no man can call Jesus Lord, that is, can really recognise his authority, but by the Holy Ghost, vs. 5–8.
11. Death, and the other evils to which believers are exposed, are on account of sin, ver. 10. They are no longer, however, the evidences of God’s displeasure, but of his parental love, Heb. 12:6.
12. The redemption of Christ extends to the bodies as well as the souls of his people, ver. 11